LEPT eBulletin – July 2019

Welcome to the LEPT eBulletin!

SPOTLIGHT ON

The two policy briefs we published in June. If you want to find out more about how TfL are counting passengers to help with their understanding of London mobility patterns, what European projects are working on urban vehicles access regulations or how LB Hackney has put in place a number of school streets, please take a look!

If there are any topics you are particularly keen on hearing more about, email us with your suggestions.

EU FUNDING & LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

Learning and exchange opportunities

European Road Safety Summer School Taking place in Belgium from 26 to 30 August 2019, this week is dedicated to professionals working in the field of road safety. It will be an opportunity to learn about awareness raising, links with urban planning and to hear about European case studies and best practice.

2019 European Mobility Week The event will be taking place from 16 to 22 September 2019. Registrations are now open for cities. The chosen theme is ‘Safe walking and cycling’, and European local authorities are encouraged to take this opportunity to test out solutions and showcase achievements.

September POLIS Working Groups meetings European network POLIS is organising new Working Groups (WG) meetings. Two WG will be meeting in September: Parking and Clean Vehicles & Air Quality. The Parking WG will focus on parking and electro-mobility, and the Clean Vehicles group on developing an integrated vision for the roll-out of charging infrastructure. If you are a borough representative, please get in touch if you want to hear more about these.

Funding opportunities

There are no current funding opportunities open.

In September 2019, Urban Innovative Actions will launch its fifth call for proposals, with a strand focusing on air quality. Some Horizon 2020 ‘Smart, green and integrated transport’ opportunities will also be opening on 3 September 2019.

We will publish a briefing about the calls later this month.

Awards

8th SUMP Award This year’s edition focuses on the integration of safe active mobility in sustainable urban mobility planning. Applications are welcome until 31 July 2019. Last year, Greater Manchester brought the award home for its work on multimodality and mobility planning. CIVITAS Awards 2019 Call Four categories are open: Bold Measure (innovative and daring approach), Citizen and Stakeholder Engagement, CIVITAS Legacy and Transformation. Cities can apply until 19 July. If your borough is not yet a CIVITAS Forum member, you can join by signing the Network Declaration.

Sustainable Cities Platform Transformative Action Award 2019 The European sustainability award will be given out to a local authority or civil society organisation implementing the 15 pathways as per the Basque Declaration, which sets out ways to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. The winner will receive €10,000. Applications will close on 31 July 2019.

NEWS

British Cycle to Work scheme revised: e-bikes now included The British national Government revised in June its Cycle to Work scheme, which allows employees to purchase bicycles tax-free through their organisation. In addition to removing the £1,000 cap, the Government announced the scheme would now also cover e-bikes.

EU sets out new steps to achieve Vision Zero The EU recently published a working document detailing how it plans to support its Vision Zero strategy. New key performance indicators have been established to measure results across the union, including driver distraction, use of safety belts or post-crash care.

European rail operators join forces to demand the end of tax exemption of aviation fuel European rail operators have come together to demand the end of tax exemption for aviation, as cross-border aviation is exempted from VAT across Europe. On the contrary, passenger rail is subject to VAT in seven members states.

Parking spaces: potential for greener cities The C40 group is calling for a conversion of parking spaces into cycle lanes and planted areas. London has already been leading the way with parklets across boroughs, for example in Hackney, where residents can apply for a community parklet.

London takes action on electric vehicle infrastructure The Mayor of London launched mid-June a new strategy for the electrification of vehicles in London, focusing on rapid chargers. This is part of a wider strategy to clean up London’s air, in close collaboration with boroughs through -among others- the Go Ultra Low City Scheme.

Institute publishes their ranking of the most bike-friendly cities in the world The Copenhagenize Institute published its newest ranking during the 2019 edition of Velo-City conference in Dublin. Copenhagen is still rated first, followed by two Dutch cities, Amsterdam and Utrecht. The ranking does not feature any British cities.

EU court of justice rules against Brussels’ monitoring of air quality Invoking the EU’s Air Quality Directive, citizens and NGOs brought the Belgian city to court. The EUCJ ruled that regional authorities cannot average out pollution levels across their districts, as it does not reflect the true level of emissions in some of the most polluted areas. After Germany, Belgium is the second EU country to make use of that ruling possibility.

WHAT LEPT IS READING SUMP 2.0: Guidelines for developing and implementing a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan – Rupprecht Consult The draft second edition of the SUMP guidelines was published during the SUMP Conference in June 2019. A feedback survey is available until 9 July, and the final version of the document will be published in October 2019 during the CIVITAS Forum Conference.

Safer Roads, safer cities: How to improve urban road safety in the EU? – European Transport Safety Council This report is an analysis of the latest EU data on road safety and presents the case for its full integration in local sustainable urban mobility planning. It also includes some key recommendations for cities, member states and EU institutions (see page 9).

Physical activity of electric bicycle users compared to conventional bicycle users and non-cyclists: Insights based on health and transport data from an online survey in seven European cities – Transportation Research interdisciplinary Perspectives An academic paper studying the health effects of e-bike usage. It appears from the results that physical activity gains are similar for e-bikers and cyclists, as most trips are substituted from private cars or public transport.

The Future of Cities – Joint Research Centre and DG REGIO This interactive platform has a section focused on urban mobility issues, outlining the main challenges that cities will be facing tomorrow. As mobility technologies progress rapidly, governance and legislative issues are highlighted, with the necessity for cities to integrate new services into their sustainable urban mobility planning.

Walking and Cycling portrayed negatively in over 60% of media articles – new research reveals – Sustrans Analysing 600 hundred articles for a year, Sustrans Scotland has shown that cycling and walking are widely portrayed as negative. But findings are not only negative: ‘health’ for example is mentioned in 93% of articles portraying active modes positively.

International Transport Forum Transport Outlook - OECD Similarly, this document outlines challenges for local authorities and provides them with policy insights to help reduce CO2 emissions from transport and respond to disruptive solutions in an efficient manner.

EVENTS ATTENDED LEPT attended the launch of the HARMONY (“Holistic Approach for Providing Spatial & Transport Planning Tools and Evidence to Metropolitan and Regional Authorities to Lead a Sustainable Transition to a New Mobility Era”) project in London. HARMONY is led by the Maas-Lab at UCL and will be looking at creating new tools for authorities to lead mobility into the low-carbon era.

LEPT representatives also attended the POLIS Management Committee Meeting in Brussels. If you wish to receive information on what was discussed, contact us.

UPCOMING EVENTS Details of both free and paid upcoming events can be found on LEPT’s website.